Most New York City visitors and residents alike can agree on New York's status as an historic city. A crown jewel of colonial America that was purchased by Peter Minuit from natives for goods valued at about $600, the island of Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs of the Bronx, Staten Island, Queens and Brooklyn have grown to become one of the most important cities in the country and the world. Although New York City's present-day significance as a center for media, finance and the arts is widely accepted, its role in history is less discussed but just as relevant, if not more fascinating.